Nana's Book Library

Age: 2+

Particulars:

• Suspenseful search when a beloved toy goes missing (happy ending!) *****
• Sweet families *****
• Lovely glimpse at three families’ Christmases *****
• Zero screens *****
• Families doing things together:  ***** 
• Positive role models *****  
• Inappropriate language: None.
• Sexual references: None.

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud or talked about.

If you don’t know Shirley Hughes, please allow me to introduce you.  Born in 1927, she was a British writer and illustrator, heartily beloved.  Highly prolific all her life – she wrote her first book for young adults at age 84 – she wrote more than 50 children’s books and illustrated more than 200.  Her books have sold more than 11 million copies.  She won prestigious awards in England for her work.  Many of her books are still in print and available on Amazon and elsewhere. 

            Frankly, nothing I can say about her will be as good as what a writer named Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who clearly loved her work, wrote about her in the British magazine, The New Statesman, at Shirley’s death in 2022, in an article entitled, “Shirley Hughes Showed Our World at its Best.”  He said (my emphasis added):  “No one since Rembrandt has so perfectly captured the precarious half-balance of the toddler’s toddle.  And I don’t think anyone ever has depicted ordinary domestic mess so honestly… The parents were also always present in the story – something unusual in children’s books.  Even more unusual, the siblings in her stories are often really good – even gallant – to each other.  The neighbourhood is warm and friendly and multicultural.  Her world is our world at its best.  The mess and the frizz have their place within a bigger conviction that stories about ordinary children doing ordinary things – getting locked out, losing a toy – could be just as full of courage, wonder and grace as any epic of fairyland.”

            So here we are at this collection of stories.  “Lucy & Tom at Christmas” was written in 1981, and “Alfie’s Christmas” and “Dogger’s Christmas” were written later.  Each story features beloved Shirley Hughes characters.  She started writing about Lucy and Tom in 1960, and they are a great team.  They help make the Christmas pudding, write some Christmas cards, make paper chains to hang and fake snow to adorn the Nativity scene.  They have bought presents for everyone in the whole family, which they also have wrapped, and which Tom keeps hiding in various places.  Basically, this is a sweet family, where they love each other and do things together, and they have a really nice Christmas.  

            Alfie, of “Alfie’s Christmas,” is about four, and he has a little sister, Annie Rose.  He has been thinking about Christmas a lot, and helps his parents make Christmas cookies and buy the tree, which they all decorate.  He and his dad go on a special secret shopping expedition to buy Alfie’s present for Mum (he already made a great present for Dad at nursery school), and then Alfie helps wrap the presents for their family and neighbors.  When Christmas Eve comes, there’s a lot of excitement late at night when Annie Rose climbs out of her crib and starts checking out her presents, but she goes back to sleep.  On Christmas Day, they open their lovely presents, go to church, and then the extended family comes over for a delicious meal.  Alfie gets a scooter for Christmas and goes out with his Great-Uncle Will, who is visiting from Australia, to try it out.  Great-Uncle Will tells him about Australia, where it is summertime!  They head home, and the whole family is waiting on the front stoop to greet them.

            “Dogger’s Christmas” features another sweet family with three kids: Dave, his big sister, Bella, and his little brother, Joe.  This is also a lovely Christmas story except… Dave’s best friend, his little stuffed toy, Dogger, goes missing!  Oh, no!!! Where can he be?  They look everywhere and Dave is very sad.  All I can say is, thank goodness Dave’s big sister thinks of one more place to look, just in the nick of time!  Way to go, Bella!  What a gripper!

This book is available used on Amazon, eBay, Abebooks, and other used book sites.  

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.